1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to the field of terminating high voltage, shielded power cables and, more particularly, for providing a lightweight, easily installed terminator having a thin-walled, flexible elongate, insulating, elastomeric housing with a seal at one end, a skirt for preventing moisture ingress under the jacket of jacketed concentric neutral (JCN) cable at the other and an intermediate bore configuration which can accommodate a wide range of cable outer diameters while minimizing the installation forces required to install the terminator upon the cable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Terminators 10 typically found in the prior art, as illustrated by FIG. 1 of the instant application, employ a large, rigid, heavy-walled, generally heavy, elongate, insulating, elastomeric housing 12 having a bore 14 from a first end 16 to an open end 18 and having a series of spaced-apart rain sheds 20 formed on the outer surface. An aperture 22 in first end 16 permits a crimp connector 26 to extend out of terminator 10. A seal cap 28 prevents the entry of moisture and dirt into the bore 14 along crimp connector 26.
However, such prior art devices do not seal the joint between the contact rod 24 (often made of copper) and the crimp connector 26 (often made of aluminum) which leads to failure of the joint due to galvanic action between the dissimilar metals. Joint compounds can be used to delay such destruction, but not prevent it.
Adjacent open end 18 on the interior wall of the stress relief 40 is a bore enlargement 30 which provides a stop shoulder 31 to engage the leading edge of the cable shield layer 34 of shielded high voltage cable 32. The insulation layer 36 snugly engages the walls defining the bore 14 in order to provide a void-free interface between them along at least a portion of the insulation layer 36 to reduce possible corona discharges within terminator 10. The length of cable insulation/bore wall contact and the minimum flexibility of the heavy-walled housing makes placement of the cable 32 within the bore 14 difficult.